Moovel (Daimler AG) buys myTaxi / Ridescout-app

Moovel GmbH (formerly known as Daimler Mobility Services GmbH) has added the German taxi-apps myTaxi (Intelligent Apps GmbH) and Ridescout (USA) to its portfolio. The general mobility app moovel (part of Daimler Financial Services AG) was one of the largest investors in myTaxi, together with T-Mobile. Both companies will continue their activities from their present HQ’s (the Stuttgart region for Moovel, Hamburg for myTaxi). Other Moovel-activities include Car2Go and Car2Go Black plus the parking app Park2gether.

With this 100% take-over myTaxi, which lost a lot of support from taxi drivers and operators in Germany by changing its pricing structure at the start of 2014 and ‘auctioning’ its trips, hopes to achieve its vision of “becoming Europe’s biggest and best taxi app.” MyTaxi was already integrated in Daimler’s general mobility app moovel, which offers its users a choice of mobility options to get from A to B, including private car, various forms of public transport, Car2Go, bikes and taxi. Users have the choice of the quickest, cheapest or easiest route.

Mytaxi started in Hamburg in June 2009 and was created by Niclaus Mewes (CEO) and Sven Külper (CMO). It claims to have made the first direct booking connection between taxi and passenger and by doing this has ‘taken the taxi industry into the 21th century and redefined the taxi market’. The iOS, Android and Windows-app was downloaded 10 million times. MyTaxi claims to be market-leader in the taxi app-market (40% market-share in Germany) and with 45.000 affiliated taxis offers a service in 40 cities in Germany and in some big cities in Europe (Vienna, Graz, Salzburg, Zürich, Barcelona, Madrid, Warsaw) and North-America (Washington). Ridescout, which is similar to moovel, is active all over the US. MyTaxi believes joining forces with moovel “allows us to be more focused on the further development of the myTaxi app and on building on the existing cities and adding new ones.”